Organised crime is a catchall concept. Everybody uses it in the media, politics and private discussions. It does not mean anything at all, which is exactly the reason why it is so used and popular! Talking about organised crime is like talking about “organised tourism” or “ organised trade”. Tourism today is the biggest industry, generating the biggest turnover globally. But nobody would ever be foolish enough to think that tourism is a concept that can be reduced to a bunch of actors and a bunch of practices: it is a complex web or... [Lire la suite]

Walking through any Italian city, you will cross the way of one of the following forces, at least: State police, Carabinieri (Gendarmerie), Municipal police, Provincial police, Financial police, Penitentiary police, and now, even soldiers ! This seems crazy. It probably is, unless this incredible fragmentation of policing is aimed at making « organised crime groups » (if they exist – see my other article on “disorganised crime”) take the power in the police. By multiplying the forces, the risk to have a security body captured by mafia... [Lire la suite]